How bad is the 7700k heat problem?

atarisafari

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May 21, 2013
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Looking to build a new gaming PC and while researching the kaby lake processors from intel, specifically the 7700k, I came across many reports of extremely high temps sometimes even at idle.

Many people seem to be delidding their CPUs to apply aftermarket thermal paste that doesn't suck but i'm not comfortable with delidding and would rather not.

Is this an overblown problem or should I consider an AMD CPU? And also, any AMD recommendations for around the same price and power as the 7700k would be appreciated.

Thank you.
 
Solution
Guys,

To help put the OP's question into perspective, Silicon Lottery - https://siliconlottery.com/collections/all/products/delid - is a reputable company that tests, bins and sells overclocked, delidded "K" CPU's. They also offer delidding services, and give the following figures on how much Core temperatures at 100% workload are improved by delidding. Mean improvements are shown in parenthesis:

7th Generation ... Kaby Lake - 12° to 25°C (18.5°C) <--
6th Generation ... Skylake - 8°C to 18°C (13.5°C)
5th Generation ... Broadwell - 8°C to 18°C (13.5°C)
4th Generation ... Devil's Canyon - 7°C to 15°C (11°C)
4th Generation ... Haswell - 10°C to 25°C (17.5°C)
3rd Generation ... Ivy Bridge - 10°C to 25°C (17.5°C)...

atarisafari

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May 21, 2013
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awesome, i was considering that as well but wasn;t sure if it had similar issues
 
Hi,

Really depends on what you do with computer.

for gaming most likely the i5 would be the best. bang for bucks
for gaming / editing, i7 would be a bit better but then again you could consider rysen if you plan of streaming also.

The best thing to do if you get a kaby lake i5/i7 get a good aftermarket cooler.
I have an i5 7600k and it was heating up real fast with standard / cheap aftermarket cooler.

The cooler master hyper 212 evo works well for me.
 


Wrong

The 6700k and 7700k both have the same TIM under the IHS.

It all comes down to if you got lucky and got a good example when it comes to thermals.
Its no longer just a silicone lottery... its also a TIM lottery.

So the 6700k has the exact same problems that the 7700k has.
Some are good, some are bad.
Its a "risk" that you just have to take unless you want to go for a safe one that has solder under the IHS like AMD has, or high end X99 cpu`s is also using solder if I remember correct.

On Intel side compared to older generations there is conventional thermal paste between the IHS and the die while Sandy Bridge and older CPUs were soldered.
 


The simple fact a 7700k is basically an OCed version of 6700k says it all right there. There are tons of thread speaking about this and the fact it relates to the heat. It may not be much but it is still a change % worth mentioning.

And yes I know of the issue. However, it is less of an issue for the 6700k because of what I just stated.

And you want to talk about performance?

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Core_i7-7700K_vs_6700K_Game_Performance/26.html

Or go look at the 100s of youtube videos. under 5% difference in performance in general and for gaming. Not even a 1% change in most cases, depending on resolution and system etc....
 

atarisafari

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May 21, 2013
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Thanks for the clarification!
Not sure if I want to take the risk with intel
 
And you want to talk about performance?

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Core_i7-7700K...

Or go look at the 100s of youtube videos. under 5% difference in performance in general and for gaming. Not even a 1% change in most cases, depending on resolution and system etc....



Did not argue on the performance stand point. The difference are next to none comparing the 6700k vs 7700k.
Intel optane support are the only point besides the two if one is interested in that kind of disk.
Gaming wise? poteto, potato.
 
The specs on ARK state that it is electrically 91W, but requires a 130W TDP thermal solution, unlike the i5 which is also 91W but specifies a 65W thermal solution. So you need to treat this as being thermally similar to prescott and heat burst and requiring an oversized thermal solution, or an acceptance of noise. My thought is that therefore AIO's with a single 120/140mm rad are not sufficient, dual rads or very very big air are needed.
https://ark.intel.com/compare/97144,97129

The reason for mentioning this is that I would have thought that medium sized air would be sufficient based on the electrical TDP, similar ix-3xxx etc. but it isn't, it was only today when looking at the specs that I realised how far out of whack my thinking was on this.
 


....... Ok look.. I will refrase then...

You wrote this at the end: and it doesn't have that issue.
The only issue that could be is the heat if you where trying to answer the question the OP had...
And if you read what I posted one more time you will see that I did not write anything at all about performance but it was all about temps...
So how you managed to pull out that I was talking about performance in games from that... I dont know.

But to answer you and the OP with one last line:

Both the 6700k and 7700k has thermal issues if you get a bad cpu, not if you get a good one. Performance in games are the same +- a couple of frames pr second.
 
Ok its called quoting properly. Try it sometime.

And yes. I get that. If you want to keep on the subject of heating issues with the new process. Fine. While it is using the same manufacturing method between CPUs. However, I do not agree it being a "lotto" the issue isn't that wide spread. If it were, they wouldn't be going out of stock with these CPUs are all major resellers and Intel would be facing some massive stock price changes, which it is not.

You make it seem like it's some wild fire spreading the Intel. Sorry, but its not.

I can understand the OP thoughts about going to Ryzen. But if you are picking Ryzen strictly because you have a 1% chance of getting this problem. I don't think that is a wise move. You also have a chance to receive a DOA chip, should that scare you off from purchasing from that vendor? No.

So then you are correct. 6700k and 7000k use the same process and if he is scared of that, sure go Ryzen.

All I'm saying is that with the hype behind it is way more then it really should be, and both are both good chips.
 
Indeed the 6700k - 7700k are good cpu`s.
But I will still agrue that both have temprature problems worth talking about. Its not a 1% chance you get a cpu with heat problems, its higher than that.
Even the new i9 has the same problem but even worse over the 6700k and 7700k. Its gotten so far it is pissing people off.
Reviews of the 6700k - 7700k also reports of temp problems, not all chips but on some.

And if one is affaid of the temps and want to play it safe and dont want to risk a delid. Well then... AMD is the only left standing.
I like Intel. And I do have the 7700k and my example was a pretty crappy one with temps up towards almost 90 degree celcius on stock settings. Thats nuts.
So I had to delid to get the temps under controll and the TIM i removed was dry like saw dust... no wonder there why I had temp problems.

And the hype you call it would not be there unless many people report high tempratures with an overkill cooling setup.
I had the high tempratures with a full custom water loop with a 480mm hardwarelabs black ice nemisis GTX, Ek supremacy evo cpu block, etc etc and there is no way in.... yea... that I should have had temps close to high 90C under stock speeds.
And I am no way alone in this problem. Same has been reported with the 6700k but not in the same amount as the 7700k but still enough has been reported in that it is something to keep in mind.

I am not an Intel fan boy, neither am I an AMD fan boy. I like both blue and red. I just go for the one who has the best CPU there an then for my needs be it Intel or AMD.
 
Yeah I came from AMD to an Intel system because I was tired of waiting for Ryzen, so I'm in the same boat. I like both.

For i9s that I do not know enough to say anything on. But appears most of the issues in the i7 I'm resolving in even this forum, are related to improper cooling setup to begin with. Not internal thermal issues because it is not that wide spread of an issue. According to Intel and most users I know had this problem, it became apparent when trying to overclock (aiming for 5.0ghz). and they will notice that their nice water cooler wasn't providing enough cooling at a specific range and CPU heat was higher then normal.

It is a pretty specific issue and normally not even something you would see continue you put a modest overclock on a very few select of these CPUs.

I think people are just jumping on the bang wagon blaming Intel before actually doing due process. Then they claim "well my temps dropped when I changed out the thermal compound" Yeah.. no sh*& you replaced stock compound with liquid compound, of course temps would change....

Yes, some people may run into that issue. However, it is not a high percentage of people that truly fall into this category.

There is very mixed reviews on this topic. I've seen threads here and on LinusTechTips with people believing they had this exact issue, where it turns out to not be the case. People applying thermal compound wrong on the cooler, using the incorrect coolers etc... happens a lot.
 

biglizard

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Apr 1, 2016
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And to add to that. People seem to think it the end of the world if they throw IBT, PRIME95 at their chips and get high temps, when what they're really going to use their comp for is gaming. I can understand if high temps are a concern when using computer for its intended purpose.

My 7700k is used for gaming, I could careless about 90c in IBT when gaming temps are at most in the low 70's.

I will say that 7700k needs more than a cm212 and if looking for a big OC then big air minimum with a possible delid.

Problem is overblown, but this cpu needs better cooling than budget coolers IMO.
 

CompuTronix

Intel Master
Moderator
Guys,

To help put the OP's question into perspective, Silicon Lottery - https://siliconlottery.com/collections/all/products/delid - is a reputable company that tests, bins and sells overclocked, delidded "K" CPU's. They also offer delidding services, and give the following figures on how much Core temperatures at 100% workload are improved by delidding. Mean improvements are shown in parenthesis:

7th Generation ... Kaby Lake - 12° to 25°C (18.5°C) <--
6th Generation ... Skylake - 8°C to 18°C (13.5°C)
5th Generation ... Broadwell - 8°C to 18°C (13.5°C)
4th Generation ... Devil's Canyon - 7°C to 15°C (11°C)
4th Generation ... Haswell - 10°C to 25°C (17.5°C)
3rd Generation ... Ivy Bridge - 10°C to 25°C (17.5°C)

According to Silicon Lottery's figures, you can see that the highest mean value is Kaby Lake (18.5°C), which suggests that it has the worst thermal performance as compared to any preceding Generations of Intel CPU's. Here's a link to a 71 page Thread on Intel's Forums where 7700K temperatures are being discussed: Thermal sensor issue i7-7700k? - https://communities.intel.com/thread/110728

In my opinion as an i7 overclocker, 2nd Generation Sandy Bridge was the last mainstream processor that Intel launched which was thermally well behaved, consistent and comparatively predictable due to having a soldered IHS. Disappointingly, Intel's 22nm and especially 14nm processors need delidding in order to provide overclockers with thermal behavior similar to 2nd Generation and earlier processors. Delidding the 7700K makes a 5.0GHz overclock with good Core temperatures on air cooling a very achievable result. Just mouse over my avatar and see for yourself.

Also, keep in mind that when reviewing Thermal Specifications in the Datasheets, Intel uses engineering samples with a soldered IHS for testing and developing specifications. As such, the Datasheets do not reflect the poor thermal performance of real-world retail samples.

CT :sol:
 
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